$4.2 billion for environmental projects, including $650 million for acquiring ecologically valuable properties<\/a>. Deadlines to apply for funding are next month.<\/p>\n\u201cThis thickly wooded, hillside parcel has a natural spring on it, and is home to hawks, eagles, deer and other wildlife,\u201d Fossella says in his letter detailing the Homer Woods parcel. \u201cDespite being located in the Special Hillside Preservation District, this parcel has already received the building permits that are necessary to construct a housing development on a portion of this property.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least 35 to 40% of Environmental Bond Act funds are required by law to be allocated to Environmental Justice Communities, and according to Fossella\u2019s letter, these parcels meet those requirements \u2014 each located just blocks from Staten Island\u2019s largest affordable housing complex \u2013 the Stapleton Houses \u2013 in a neighborhood with a 70% minority population.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis densely populated neighborhood has a large, diverse citizenry yet is otherwise limited in terms of protected natural areas accessible to residents of all ages,\u201d Fossella writes. \u201cWe support the protection of additional parcels such as this, along the Serpentine Ridge. This will bring many benefits to the community including recreation and relaxation for nearby residents, minimization of stormwater runoff, less flooding of lower lying homes, improvement of air quality, prevention of urban heat islands, noise reduction, lighting reduction, preservation of wildlife habitat and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Van Duzer sites are adjacent to 11 heavily wooded hillside acres that are already preserved as the Serpentine Art and Nature Commons, located on a very steep hillside that traverses from Van Duzer Street to Howard Avenue, and is dotted with hiking trails and significant geological features.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support the expansion of the natural preserve here due to the many benefits to the community including education, recreation for nearby residents, youth programs, minimization of stormwater runoff and flooding, improvement of air quality, prevention of urban heat islands, preservation of wildlife habitat and many more,\u201d Fossella wrote. \u201cClearly, these parcels along the Serpentine Ridge are especially well suited for the EBA Land Conservation grant program. We urge the earliest possible acquisition of these properties to prevent irreversible environmental damage and to fulfill the objectives of the Environmental Bond Act.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Borough President Vito Fossella is seeking to rescue three Staten Island parcels of land…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-181832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}